Improving quality of care in systemic sclerosis

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Autoimmune Diseases
• Healthcare Quality

Background:

• Systemic sclerosis is a severe autoimmune disease impacting multiple organs.
• It leads to significant mortality, disability, and reduced quality of life.
• Optimizing care quality is crucial for managing this complex condition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate current care quality for systemic sclerosis patients.
• To identify gaps in guideline-based care across the disease spectrum.
• To explore promising quality improvement strategies.

Main Methods:

• Review of studies from patient cohorts, registries, and surveys.
• Analysis of adherence to guideline-based care.
• Assessment of quality improvement initiatives.

Main Results:

• Identified gaps include incomplete cardiopulmonary screening, underuse of rehabilitation and preventive care, and fragmented care.
• Multidisciplinary pathways and EHR tools show potential for improving process adherence.
• Current improvement efforts are limited in scale and focus on intermediate outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Significant variations in systemic sclerosis care quality persist.
• Future efforts should leverage implementation science, digital tools, and patient-reported outcomes.
• Building learning health systems is key to reducing unwarranted care variation.